Well, my life sucks because I just finished the final Infernal Devices book, the Clockwork Princess, and it was amazing, but it was the end… But on the bright side, the Host movie comes out of Friday. If you have not read the Host by Stephenie Meyer, then I highly recommend that you do. It is amazing. Even if you hated Twilight, I guarantee this is 1,000 times better, and really well-written.

Sorry for typos and OOCness. I hope Thalia isn't too OOC…

Happy Reading!

Chapter 32

Jason

It was nice to see Thalia again.

They were all awake now, sitting in a circle around a fire that Thalia had started. They'd had a happy reunion, which was the happiest thing that had happened to Jason since his small birthday party with Piper. And he hadn't seen his sister in a few months, since the hunters had last visited camp. He had not realized how much he had missed his sister.

They introduced Frank and Hazel to Thalia, and Hazel made a remark on how much she reminded her of the Amazons. Leo had gone up to her and tried to say something, but she brushed him off like she usually did. Jason wondered when Leo was going to realize that his sister didn't like guys.

Once they had been settled, Thalia asked the question that they all had known was coming. "So, where are Percy and Annabeth?" After she looked around at their faces, though, her expression fell. "Oh no… what happened?"

They all looked around, not wanting to be the one to tell her what had happened. Finally Nico spoke up bravely. "They're gone, Thalia, and we're trying to get them back."

"Gone?" Thalia demanded, her blue eyes looking like little hurricanes in the firelight. Sparks lit up her hair. "What do you mean, gone? They can't just be gone. Where are they? What happened?"

Nico and Jason both explained to her together what had happened on their quest, with the others jumping in occasionally to put in facts. They talked to her about the Roman Camp and how they sailed across the US and into the Mediterranean. They all told their separate parts of the story. Nico spoke of his time being held by the giants, Jason and Piper spoke of traveling with Percy and fighting off the giants, and Leo, Hazel, and Frank talked about finding the Archimedes Sphere.

Thalia kept her eyes glued to the fire the entire time. When they were done she said, "And what about Annabeth? What had happened to her?"

"Well, honestly Thals, none of us really know," Jason admitted sheepishly. "She explained some of his to us, but it had been fast and she had been in so much pain-"

Thalia sat straight up and glared at Jason. "What do you mean that she was in pain?"

Jason silently cursed himself, and they all tried to explain to her what had happened to Annabeth. She had gone to find the Athena Parthenos and had had a run in with Arachne. Thalia swore when she heard that. "But she's terrified of spiders!" Thalia exclaimed. "Whose smart idea was it to let her do that?" And Jason could've laughed when her eyes landed on Leo accusingly.

"No!" Leo protested. "It wasn't me!"

They hastily explained the rest of what they knew. They told her how she had broken her ankle but still managed to outsmart the mother of spiders. And then they explained how Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus, and how they weren't able to save them.

Thalia had a bow in her hand now, and she snapped it in half, and something told Jason that those arrows weren't made of regular wood. Then they explained how they had been sailing to Greece, and then how they had been caught in a Gate of No Return. They also talked about Triton in Kauai and their battle, and then the Gate in the volcano, and how they ended up here, which Thalia had confirmed as Yellowstone.

Finally, Thalia clearly had enough, and she sagged backwards onto the ground. She looked so defeated, the exact opposite of how she always presented herself. But Jason couldn't blame her. It was how they all felt.

"I can't believe I let this happen," she mumbled, throwing her hands up in the air. Thunder rumbled in the distance. "They're my best friends… Annabeth is like my sister. How could I have let this happen?"

"It's not your fault, Thalia," Piper said soothingly, with her charmspeak. She calmed down a little bit, but she still looked terrible. Thalia sat up and took her little tiara that marked her as lieutenant off her head and studied it. Then she sighed and put it back on.

"So, why are you here anyway?" asked Frank nervously. He was probably scared that Thalia was going to shoot lightning at him or something. She was giving off that kind of vibe.

She looked at Jason as she spoke. "The rest of the hunters and I have split up. We are making our way over to Camp Jupiter to secure it and its people. We need to make sure no one else leaves that camp."

Jason, Frank, and Hazel gaped at her. "Why?"

"There's a war going on, guy," she said nonchalantly. "There's a whole army of Romans lining up at Camp Half-Blood right now. Things aren't looking so good. The fighting has already started. As you probably know, the Roman's are more formal, and the Greek's are, like more for guerilla warfare. It's like the Revolutionary War all over again. We don't want anyone else from your camp leaving though, so some of us have left to go take control of the camp for the time being."

"But… you can't do that!" exclaimed Frank. "Some of our friends are there. People have families there."

"What do you think we're going to do? Kill them all?" Thalia spat. "We're just going to keep them in line. Do you think of us as barbarians? Wait don't answer that! Of course you do! Why else would your kind be fighting a war against us?"

There were sparks on her clothes now too, and her nice tone was completely gone. Frank had shrunk back, and for a good reason. Thalia's anger was clearly getting the best of her now, because she had Aegis out. At the sight of Medusa's head, Jason gulped and scrambled back. It was like fear just rolled off of the shield.

She screamed in frustration and stalked away from them, kicking twigs and hitting the branches with her shield.

Leo gulped. "Well…"

"I'll go calm her down," Jason said, since no one else was volunteering. Not even Piper wanted to get up. Jason followed the noise through the endless trees and over the giant roots. She hadn't gone far, perhaps a hundred yards. She had her back against a trunk and glared at him when he came up to her.

"I happen to be one of those cursed Roman's you just talked crap about," Jason said as he approached her. For some reason, he felt stupid having left his weapons back with the others. But that was silly; she wouldn't attack him… right?

"I know Jason, and I'm okay with that." She banged her head against the trunk. She had bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in days. "It's just… the Romans have gone to destroy our camp, and then I learn that Percy and Annabeth are fighting for their lives and could be dead in Tartarus. It's hard to swallow that. And with the prophecy…" she trailed off.

"What prophecy?" Jason demanded, his stomach dropping. "We haven't heard anything about a prophecy yet!"

Thalia stared at him for a few long seconds. Her flash of anger had faded away, and now she looked regretful and sorrowful, like it meant something terrible. Jason didn't like that at all. "Let's go back to the others. I'll explain then… I thought you all had heard about it."

They walked back to the others. They all scooted back a few inches when they saw Thalia, but she shrugged it off like it was no big deal. "So," she started sadly. "The prophecy. You all haven't heard it yet."

Everyone shook their head, except for Nico, who looked down at his feet and said nothing. "Have you heard it Nico?" Thalia asked, and if her voice could've got any sadder, it did.

He nodded, and looked dark and depressed. "I've heard of it, and some of what it predicted."

Jason wanted to inquire him, but he let Thalia go on. "Yes well… Rachel…" Frank and Hazel looked confused, so Thalia added, "Our oracle, said it a few days ago, while we had been there. It was at a camp meeting, and… the prophecy was long. They're usually short, but this was abnormally long, and even Chiron could not guess why."

She brought out a piece of paper that was crumbled from being in the pocket of her silvery cargo pants. She coughed a little bit like something was stuck in her throat and began to read:

The House of Hades Holds the Key
To Destroying the World and Restoring Peace.
At the End of Battle's Foretold Strike
The Two Enemies will Fight to Unite.
The Giant Stalks the Six Waiting for War
The Earth Mother Haunts at the Doors.

Thalia stopped there for a second, searching the eyes of the others. Jason didn't think it was that bad. "Okay," he started. "The House of Hades… we gotta find it. It has the key to ending or saving the world. We know that."

"And it said that the two enemies would fight to unite!" Leo added. "Maybe it's talking about the Greeks and Romans. Maybe we'll just fight a little bit and then become friends?"

"If you could see the fighting that's happening right now, I think you may think otherwise," Thalia said darkly. "It's not over though… There's another freaking stanza." She glanced at Nico, who was still staring at his feet. She looked heartbroken as she continued to read the fateful last lines.

For Though the Eight May Stay
There Is One too Many for Giant's Decay
Fire and Ice will Oppose the Threats
Made By Man Who Conquers All Death
Lost in the Wind as Whisper's Tell
The Ghost King Will Forever Reign in Hell.

By the end of the prophecy, everyone was looking at Nico with wide eyes. Hazel and her hands over her mouth in shock, and Jason was sure he could see a tear in her eye. The last few lines… they had been about Nico, and his death.

Jason may have not liked Nico, but he didn't want the guy to die. Already he had almost been sacrificed to Gaea's army by Triton, and now there was a prophecy predicted the death of the 'Ghost King'. He wasn't sure what to do. He didn't think Nico wanted a hug.

Even to further prove his point, Nico said, "I don't want anyone's sympathy. Just letting that out there. I've known about that part of the prophecy for about a day, since I was knocked out by Triton. But they always have double meanings. Maybe it's something else." But he sounded doubtful.

But still, Hazel got up and gave him a hug. Nico dodged away from her. "I've have my own news for everyone. When I was out in Kauai, I started to remember a few things from my time in Tartarus."

When no one said anything, he continued. "I remember being chased, and then going into this giant house. It was huge and mismatched, like a little kid had assembled it. The sky there was green. And inside the place was a hoarder's wonderland. It had everything. But when I tried to leave, there was this force pulling be backwards, and it pulled me down these flights of stairs and into darkness. I thought i was going to die, and then I woke up."

Jason didn't know what to say. He didn't know if Nico wanted condolences, or just acknowledgment. He opened his mouth to try and say something, but Nico held up his hand. "No, I don't want to hear what you have to say. I have other news."

"And that is?" Thalia croaked.

"Well… the giant in the prophecy that stalks us. His name is Tityos, and he talked to me." Everyone sat up. They had all defeated, leaning back in anguish and depression. "He offered me a way to live from the prophecy, as becoming a spy. I turned him down, of course, but he told me that Percy and Annabeth were fated to die, and he told me about the battle of the camps."

"We need to contact Percy and Annabeth," Thalia said.

"Iris Messages have stopped working," Piper said glumly.

"Then we need to get a move on." Thalia looked at all of them challenging her. "The Hunters can do without me. Sleep now, because we're getting up early tomorrow, and we're getting you guys back to Greece."

Review challenge: What's the last movie you watched? Mine is Argo, which is great if you haven't seen it! Our county is doing Battle of the Characters, and Percy Jackson is in the final four. But my county also just started the essay contest for writing the differences between a book and movie. So, obviously, I am doing the Lightning Thief.

Reviews/Ideas are loved! I have two new oneshots: For the First Time and Princess of China. Please check out!

-BBH